The Rurouni
by Spelbound
Summary: The Highwayman' RK Style. AU


DISCLAIMER: I do not own the "Highwayman" (It is owned by Alfred Noyes) nor Rurouni Kenshin characters: Kenshin, Karou, Saitou, and Shishiou. I just like to mess with them.

* * *

'The Highwayman'- Rurouni Kenshin Style

The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,  
the moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,  
the road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple fields,  
and the rurouni came riding—  
Riding—riding—  
the rurouni came riding, up to the old dojo door.

II

He'd a gingasa of metal atop his head, a pink gi of cotton, and hakama pants of white woven wool;  
they fitted with never a wrinkle: His sandals were so worn through!  
And he rode with a jeweled twinkle,  
His sakabato handle a-twinkle;  
His sakabato hilt a-twinkle, under the jeweled sky.

III

Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark dojo yard,  
And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred;  
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there  
But the dojo master's blue-eyed daughter,  
Karou, the dojo master's daughter,  
A pink ribbon in her long black hair.

IV

And dark in the dark dojo a stable-wicket creaked  
Where Siatou, the ostler listened; his face was white and peaked;  
His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like greasy hay,  
But he loved the landlord's daughter,  
The landlord's red-lipped daughter,  
Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say—

V

"One kiss, my beautiful, I'm after a prize to-night,  
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light;  
Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,  
Then look for me by moonlight,  
Watch for me by moonlight,  
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way."

VI

He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand,  
but she loosened her hair from its ribbon! His face burnt like a brand  
as the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast;  
and he kissed its waves in the moonlight,  
(Oh, sweet, black waves in the moonlight!)  
Then he tugged at his rein in the moonlight, and galloped away to the West.

PART TWO

I

He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon;  
And out o' the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the moon,  
When the road was a gypsy's ribbon, looping the purple fields,  
A police troop came marching—  
Marching—marching—  
Emperor Shishiou's men came matching, up to the old dojo door.

II

They said no word to the landlord, they drank his sake instead,  
But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow futon;  
Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets at their side!  
There was death at every window;  
and hell at one dark window;  
For Karou could see, through her casement, the road that _he_ would ride.

III

They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest;  
they had bound a musket beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast!  
"Now, keep good watch!" and they kissed her.  
She heard the dead man say—  
_Look for me by moonlight;_  
_Watch for me by moonlight;_  
_I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way!_

IV

She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good!  
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!  
They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years,  
till, now, on the stroke of midnight,  
cold, on the stroke of midnight,  
the tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!

V

The tip of one finger touched it; she strove no more for the rest!  
Up, she stood up to attention, with the barrel beneath her breast,  
She would not risk their hearing; she would not strive again;  
For the road lay bare in the moonlight;  
Blank and bare in the moonlight;  
And the blood of her veins in the moonlight throbbed to her love's refrain .

VI

_Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot!_ Had they heard it? The horse-hoofs ringing clear;  
_Tlot-tlot, tlot-tlot,_ in the distance? Were they deaf that they did not hear?  
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,  
the rurouni came riding,  
Riding, riding!  
The police looked to their priming! She stood up, straight and still!

VII

_Tlot-tlot,_ in the frosty silence! _Tlot-tlot,_ in the echoing night!  
Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light!  
Her eyes grew wide for a moment; she drew one last deep breath,  
then her finger moved in the moonlight,  
her musket shattered the moonlight,  
shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him—with her death.

VIII

He turned; he spurred to the West; he did not know who stood  
Bowed, with her head o'er the musket, drenched with her own red blood!  
Not till the dawn he heard it; his face grew grey to hear  
How Karou, the Dojo Master's daughter,  
The dojo master's blue-eyed daughter,  
Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.

IX

Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky,  
With the white road smoking behind him and his sakabato brandished high!  
Blood-red were his spurs in the golden noon; wine-red was his pink gi,  
When they shot him down on the highway,  
Down like a dog on the highway,  
And he lay in his blood on the highway, with the bunch of fabric at his throat.

X

_And still of a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,  
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,  
When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple fields,  
A rurouni comes riding—  
Riding—riding—  
A rurouni comes riding, up to the old dojo door._

XI

_Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard;  
He taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred;  
He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there  
But the landlord's blue-eyed daughter,  
Karou, the landlord's daughter,  
A pink ribbon in her long black hair._


End file.
